Bet you thought Ninjas were guys dressed in black who sneaked round buildings and carried long flashy swords? Not in Ninja Blade. Read our review now to see just what’s up with this madcap game as it makes the jump to PC.
Ninja Blade is set in August 2015 and Tokyo has been overrun by deadly parasitic worms which mutate everything and everyone they touch, making them just a teensy bit homicidal. Ken Ogawa is the coolest ninja in the special task force (with the daft acronym of G.U.I.D.E.) sent in to wipe out the infection before it spreads globally.
From the moment Ken dives out of the troop transport plane in the opening seconds of Ninja Blade, the madcap pace rarely lets up. The gameplay generally follows the pattern of sending a few waves of lesser foes to deal with first, followed by bosses who are all massive in size (often skyscraper tall) and include crabs, spiders, insects and (naturally) worms as well as bizarre hybrids.
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As Ninja Blade was originally exclusively developed for the Xbox 360, it still feels most comfortable playing with a controller rather than the much more clumsy mouse and keyboard (which has sluggish camera issues as well). Fighting methods seem to have been cobbled together from predecessors, such as the incessant quick-time events (as in God of War) triggered before a boss kill, running up walls and swinging on poles (from Prince of Persia) and gradually wearing down giant bosses by button-mashing ‘smash and dodge’ tactics (like Bayonetta).
There are three sword combos available to you in Ninja Blade – the general purpose Oni-Slayer, the heavier Stonerender which cracks walls open and the swift Twin Falcon Knives which are ideal for dealing with flocks of bats or repelling missiles. You also have a lethal shuriken which can be precisely targeted and programmed to put out fires or spread flames and electric charges.
Although boss fighting in Ninja Blade can be somewhat repetitive, there are plenty of mad scenarios where you fight a Hydra on a plane wing, shoot at a surreal father-daughter pairing while careering down a train track, skateboard on a missile and take out winged demons while running down the side of a skyscraper. It’s not as wild, complex or exciting a ride as Bayonetta but Ninja Blade has plenty of surprises to keep you sharp.
